5 Super Easy Hacks to Make Stinky Platform Boots Smell Better

I had this one friend growing up who was over 6 feet, was an incredibly talented ballerina, who dyed her hair raven black every so often (on occasion she sometimes opted for a particularly vibrant lime green), and she also had an ABSOLUTELY fabulous sense of style.

Let me tell you, this friend of mine was ten types of punk Frankensteined together with a witty sense of class. I admired the absolute stuffing out of her, and beyond that, I also wanted literally every single pair of her shoes!

Being over 6 feet tall didn’t (and probably couldn’t, knowing her) stop this lass from wearing particularly high-heeled shoes– especially these extra stylish platform shoes that added another several inches to her already impressive height.

Said stylin’ friend inspired me to get a pair or two of my own platform shoes, and for real, these things actually are able to triple an individual’s levels of confidence– I could totally conquer the known universe and do it while listening to old punk and/or rock music if I so happened to be wearing a pair of my platform boots.

What my good and wonderfully garishly dressed friend neglected to tell me about platform shoes, however, was how stinkin’ difficult these suckers are to keep smelling clean! For real, learning how to deodorize stinky platform boots was a long road, but here are several tips and tricks so that you can have better-smelling platform boots for good ASAP! We all know it’s kind of difficult to rock such standout boots if you smell like microwaved radioactive cheese during the attempt, so read on, and smell better than ever ma’ positively fabulous yet funky punks!

  

1. Rubbing Alcohol

 

Right then you lovely yet lousy-smelling lot, so we’re going to be chit-chatting about baking soda first! I know, I know– what the actual freakin’ heck does rubbing alcohol got to do with fixing your stinky platform boots? An actual whole lot, let me just tell you, ok?

Ya’ see, stinky feet aren’t *precisely* your poor pungent feet’s fault. It is, in most truthful yet terribly funky fact, the fault of some particularly smelly bacteria which happen to live on your feet. Said bad-smelling bacteria simply loves to chow down on the moisture from the sweat on your feet and also on the dead skin cells which just sort of naturally slough off of one’s person (ya’ can’t do all too much about sweating and having skin– that’s nothing for you to be ashamed of, alright?). All of this means, in other words, that your platform boots are an actual and most literal haven for the hungry lil’ buggers– they’re an all-you-can-eat-buffet, it would seem!

But that’s why we have all of these easy and effective shoe deodorization hacks for you to use on your stinky platform boots, ma’ dear if a bit rank readers! Rubbing alcohol in particular can totally help us out as we endeavor to show that stink bacteria just exactly whose incredibly and most utterly fabulous punk-rock platform boots they are (they’re yours, obvs, and you’re about to get them back)!

All you have to do in order to deodorize those stinky platform boots of yours is get your hands on some cotton pads or rounds, soak all of ‘em in some rubbing alcohol, then stuff them into those stinky platform boots of yours and leave everything to hang out in there for at least overnight, although you may or may not want to consider leaving the cotton rounds in there for just a wee bit longer, because that’ll really give the rubbing alcohol longer to take on the stinky bacteria.

2.  Baking Soda 

 

Taking on the terrible shoe stank for all of us up next is some simple and honest baking soda! Yes, yes, of course baking soda is *just* a regular old cooking and/or baking ingredient that just kind of sort of hangs out in the back of some dusty old kitchen cabinet for the most part, but y’all have got to trust me when I say that baking soda is literally one of the most magical wee lil’ ingredients out there.

For instance, did all y’all know that baking soda can make your fried chicken extra crunchy if you use it in the ol’ flour dredge– just a dash is all ya’ need! Baking soda is also how some bakers accomplish the classic golden-brown crust of large soft pretzels (those are totally easier to make than one thinks btw– you’ve got to look up a recipe right now and try it on out, ya’ hear me?). And like for real, nobody could or should ever forget how baking soda helps all of our fantastically lovely baked goods rise and reach near-heavenly heights of divine fluffy goodness.

Baking soda also is just apparently a great multitasker because it can ABSOLUTELY help ya’ to easily and successfully deodorize those stinky platform boots that you want to get back to wearing ASAP! Baking soda, you see, is actually rather fantastic for absorbing any and all kinds of moisture (um yeah, your sweat counts) which, if you’ll care to recall, is one of the things bad-smelling bacteria just loves to chow down on. All of this means that when we use baking soda that all of that aforementioned moisture won’t be able to make its way right to the stinky and hungry bacteria– and if we can manage to keep the bacteria hungry and not living their best lil’ wee bacteria lives, then we won’t have to worry about the crazy-levels of footwear funk that you’ve gotten used to (don’t you dare to even TRY and deny it! Your poor schnozz is literally shot from the shoe stank)!

Baking soda can easily be used to deodorize stinky platform boots with just a few quick and easy steps. Get yourself a couple of tablespoons of baking soda and dash it all straight on into each of your funky footwear (alternatively, if you’re worried about ensuring an easy cleanup, you can totally put the same amount of baking soda into a sock, tie it all off with a rubber band or something, and then stuff said sock straight on into your stinky shoes). Either way you want to go for, all y’all will want to make sure to leave the baking soda in your smelly platform boots for at least overnight, but just letting the baking soda hang out for a tad bit longer can totally work wafty wonders for your rad but rank platform boots.

3. White Vinegar

 

We might as well try and make a 4th-grade science fair project now, because with the baking soda from the previous shoe deodorizing hack and this upcoming one of white vinegar– well, I’m absolutely sure that we could make a pretty fabulous acid and base foaming volcano!

But if you’re strictly here for the super easy shoe deodorization tricks, then baking soda is totes good for that as well. Vinegar is like super, super acidic, you see, which means that the bad-smelling bacteria will all be running for their bacteria mommies in no time when we use said vinegar to deodorize your freakin’ fabulous (yet sadly funky) platform boots).

Any old kind of vinegar will totally work absolutely fine for you and your pungent peds, although I would tend to suggest that you go on and use whichever kind of vinegar you’ve already got in that kitchen of yours. I mean, obviously don’t go on and use your fancy-schmancy balsamic vinegar for deodorizing your pungent platform boots– save the good vinegar for cooking, alright?

I’d really just recommend a plain ol’ fashioned white vinegar– it’s cheap and you probs already have got a bottle of said white vinegar lying in the back of a kitchen cabinet or in the back of the pantry. 

Learning how to use said white vinegar to deodorize your stinky platform boots totally couldn’t be any easier. Comparable to the option with the rubbing alcohol, all we need to do is soak a couple of cotton pads or rounds in our white vinegar and then stuff all of it right on into our funky footwear. That’s it! Leave it to sit there overnight, at the very least, but leaving the white vinegar-soaked cotton rounds in there for longer will for sure help to put a better dent in the dank smells.

4. Cinnamon

 

But vinegar can for sure be a bit on the rank side in of itself– now, that’s not to say that the acidic tang of any kind of vinegar is as bad as the old sour cheese smell presently wafting up from your stinky platform shoes, but still, there’s definitely something to be said for wanting a shoe deodorization hack that’s perhaps just slightly less sharp.

See, cinnamon might be a liiiiittle sharp in its own right of course, but nobody in their right mind would call it acidic, so if that’s more of what you’re looking (and hopefully smelling) for, then this sweet spice might just be the right stinky shoe deodorization hack for you and your funky footwear.

Cinnamon: that one weird scent that’s somehow good for an innumerable amount of jobs. Flavoring all of those trendy pumpkin spice lattes? Oh yeah, that’s cinnamon alright. Basically any and all kinds of seasonal Yankee candles or Krispy Kreme donuts (don’t mind me and my growling belly now, oof)-- for sure, it would seem that cinnamon is quite literally just about everywhere.

And thank goodness, in my own calm and objective opinion! Cinnamon is an extra fantastic kind of pungent (of course, you’re welcome to think otherwise!) and so we’ll be using it to take on the stank that’s been hanging out in your stinky shoes and get rid of it for good!

For this particularly lovely shoe deodorization hack, you can absolutely feel free to go ahead and use either powdered or whole cinnamon– either or will work just fine for fixing the problem of your pungent platform boots. Whichever form of the sweet-smelling spice you opt to choose is going to work equally well as a swell solution to your shoe’s stank. Really, I would just say to go on ahead and use whichever variety of cinnamon you've already got at home in the back of the spice cabinet or just in the kitchen– if you do have to go out buy some more cinnamon in order to make your stinky shoes smell better than ever, then the powdered is cheaper, usually, just an FYI for you, ma’ dear yet dank-smelling reader.

Either use a couple of sticks of the whole form of cinnamon or a couple of tablespoons of its powdered counterpart. Put the cinnamon right on into your stinky platform boots, or if you’re using the powdered form but want an easy cleanup to look forward to then you can (as with the earlier option with the baking soda) just put the same amount of cinnamon into a sock that you’ve made sure to tie off securely. After all of that, go on and feel free to keep the cinnamon inside of your funky footwear at least overnight, although leaving it in there for a wee bit longer will certainly pack a more pungent (and cinnamon-scented) punch.

5. LUMI’s Natural Shoe and Foot Powder

 

LUMI’s Natural Shoe and Foot Powder is our fifth option to fight the footwear funk and fix your stinky platform boots once and for all. What’s really actually kind of amazing about LUMI is that it’s not just great for getting rid of the stank once you’ve got it, but this powder is also for sure one of the best things out there for preventing all of those bad smells in the first place!

And you totes don’t have to believe just me, myself, and I–  LUMI’s Natural Shoe and Foot Powder has earned over 600 utterly perfect 5-star reviews on Amazon, averaging out to a solidly stellar 4.6 stars overall. Amazon reviewer Chicanaza here says that they love both LUMI’s shoe sprays and the deodorizing powder especially for their fabulous boots:

 

 

Not only is LUMI’s Natural Shoe and Foot Powder supes easy to use and supes effective, but LUMI is ALSO a pretty fabulous company in its own right. The company uses only the highest quality of all-natural ingredients, never ever (and they honestly really do mean ever) test on animals, and they’re also a small, family-owned business that just so happens to make literally every single one of their products in the United States.

Beyond all of that, LUMI’s Natural Shoe and Foot Powder specifically uses some rather rad ingredients that are just extra fabulous for your skin, including zinc oxide, kaolin clay, bentonite clay (lots of good clay here, m’kay?), etc, etc. 

Deodorize those stinky platform boots of yours ASAP and successfully with just a wee bit of this powder tapped in, and then that’s it! Smell fabulous and look the same with your freakin’ fabulous (and no longer funky) platform boots!

Alrighty then, we’ve made it through all five of our super easy shoe deodorization hacks! Heck to the freakin’ yeah! Frankly, however, I know that I personally tend to need just a wee lil’ reminder on most things, so let’s just sum up everything that we’ve run through, if that’s alright? 

Rubbing alcohol is the first super easy deodorization hack on our list for saving those pungent platform boots of yours, and it literally couldn’t be more simple. Rubbing alcohol and the stinky bacteria (which is the OG cause of the olfactory oblivion that is your funky footwear) are each themselves not exactly the biggest fans of the other, meaning that if we’ve got the rubbing alcohol then the stinky bacteria will be running for its bacterial mommy in no time at all. In sum– if we’ve gots the rubbing alcohol, we won’t gets the shoe stank, alright? So how the actual freakin’ heck do you use rubbing alcohol to fix stinky platform boots for good? A solid question, my fabulous yet funky friend– simply go on and get yourself some wee cotton pads or rounds, soak them with some plain old rubbing alcohol, and then stuff said rounds right into your pungent platform boots, leaving everything to sit in there for at least overnight, or even longer should you be able to spare your fave set of towering shoes for so long a time.

Baking soda is the second strategy for combating stinky shoes we’ve got to share with all y’all, and it totes is one of the easiest methods for fixing footwear funk for good that we’ve got. Baking soda is actually kind of extra fabulous at absorbing basically any kind of moisture, which ROCKS for all of those of us who sweat (it’s normal, alright? No need to get yourself into a tizzy over it); said sweat would otherwise go on to feed the stink-producing bacteria, so I say heck to the freakin’ yeah when it comes to using baking soda to deodorize any and all of our funky footwear. All you’ve got to do is get yourself a couple of tablespoons of our very favorite ingredient to use in the kitchen (that’s baking soda, by the way) and dust it all right on into your pungent peds. If you’d like to make future cleanup easier on your fine (and hopefully not so stinky as of now) self, then you can totes just put the same amount of baking soda into a set of socks that you’ve tied off and secured, then stuff that sock into your utterly kick-butt platform boots.

White vinegar is the easy stinky shoe deodorization hack that we’ve got up next for all y’all, and just like our first option of using rubbing alcohol, this stuff just ain’t great for the smelly bacteria, meaning that it’s great for all of those of us who have got any sort of functioning nose hairs. Any kind of vinegar, if you’d like to know, is like super super acidic, and that’s why the rank bacteria really can’t stand it. Any kind of vinegar can totally work well (they’re all definitely way acidic) to deodorize your stinky platform boots, but white vinegar is one of the most common types out there (not to mention one of the cheapest and most readily available) so there’s that for you– you actually probs already have a container of the acidic stuff hanging out in the back of a dusty kitchen cabinet already– really though, just go for whatever kind of vinegar you’ve already got on hand, ya’ know? For sure, there definitely isn’t any sort of need to make your grocery list more complicated or pricy all just because of your poor pungent peds, of course. Once you’ve settled on your vinegar of choice, you can then proceed to soak some cotton rounds or pads in the stuff, and then go on to stuff those vinegar-soaked rounds right on into your stinky platform boots to hang out overnight (that’s the bare minimum recommendation here, alright!) although any longer certainly wouldn’t be a bad idea if you really want your pungent platform boots to be back to their fabulous (and NOT funky) selves.

Cinnamon is a fresh and fabulous spice for your (not-presently-fresh but still) fabulous platform boots! Use either the stick or powdered form (both can totally help your pungent peds to smell absolutely fantastic– just go for whichever is already in your kitchen, alright?). Deodorize stinky shoes quickly AND successfully with just a couple of tablespoons of cinnamon dashed straight on into your smelly platform boots (or a couple of cinnamon sticks if that is what you happen to already have on hand). If you’d like to have an easier cleanup (and who the heck wouldn’t want that!? Like actually!?) then just put the same amount of cinnamon into a securely tied-off sock and then stuff said sock straight on into your stinky platform boots. Regardless of your chosen and preferred method, you’ll be wanting to make sure to go on and leave all of that cinnamon in your smelly shoes for at LEAST one night, although any longer will for sure be a better-smelling bonus.

LUMI’s Natural Shoe and Foot Powder is our last super easy hack for deodorizing stinky platform boots, and it totally couldn’t be more simple. Merely tap some of this all-natural powder straight on into each of your stinky boots and there you have it! 

That’s all you need to know when it comes to deodorizing those stinky platform boots of yours! Pick any of these fine five options to fix your smelly shoes for good, or if you’re feeling particularly adventurous, you could also totally combine two or three of them if you’d like to really ensure that your lovely platform boots don’t smell rank ever again!